Gop Leaders Doing An About-face On Birkett

Party Chiefs Favoring Him In Primary Fight

As the doors open Monday on another primary election campaign, it appears as if a sort of collective amnesia has settled over the Republican Party leadership in DuPage County.

Just a year ago, key DuPage Republicans were unyielding in their opposition to the appointment of Joseph Birkett, 40, as interim state's attorney. The career prosecutor was passed over when he sought the job after his boss, then-State's Atty. Jim Ryan, was elected Illinois attorney general.

Two of the objections to Birkett at the time were that he had been indifferent to GOP politics in DuPage and had once voted in a Democratic primary.

Now, though, Birkett is seeking the GOP nomination for state's attorney with the favor, if not the outright endorsement, of party leaders.

Last year's objections have been largely forgotten for several reasons: Birkett was willing to present his credentials to the GOP hierarchy and he has demonstrated that he has support from the law-enforcement community and victims advocacy groups.

Also, other candidates whom the party might have supported opted not to run.

But an important reason for Birkett's new-found favor is the high level of discomfort among many in the party with the other announced candidate, lawyer and political upstart Thomas Cronin.

Concerns about Birkett's voting record appear to have evaporated with Cronin's entry into the race.

Both men, though, are likely to face potentially troublesome issues during what is expected to be an intense, ugly and probably expensive campaign leading up to the March 19 primary.

Candidates for state and local offices, as well as for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House, can file nominating petitions beginning Monday. The filing period ends Dec. 18.

Thomas Laz, 45, a former assistant public defender in DuPage and now a lawyer in private practice in Addison, also has been circulating nominating petitions to run in the GOP primary for state's attorney.

Cronin, 31, the brother of state Sen. Dan Cronin (R-Elmhurst), managed the successful primary campaign of DuPage County Board Chairman Gayle Franzen as well as Ryan's general election campaign for attorney general. But Franzen said he will not make an endorsement in the state's attorney's race.

Though he acknowledges he is close to Cronin and his family, Franzen said that "the best thing for me is that I stay out of this."

Cronin, of Glen Ellyn, is positioning himself to run as an outsider against the political establishment in DuPage and the record of the state's attorney's office.

The fundamental issue, he said, is the need for "new, independent leadership."

The problem for Cronin is that his talk about restoring trust and integrity in the office carries an implicit criticism of Ryan, whose campaign he managed and who is held in high regard by most DuPage Republicans.

Cronin also has no experience as a prosecutor--though two former Cook County state's attorneys, Bernard Carey, a former FBI agent, and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, won election with little or no trial experience.

But unlike Carey or Daley, Cronin's resume since being admitted to the practice of law five years ago is a bit sparse. Cronin has been an attorney at the Chicago law firm of Winston & Strawn since 1992, but he waltzes around questions about how much time he has spent practicing law between stints as campaign manager.

Citing his MBA as well as his law degree from the University of Chicago, Cronin said that it's important to have a state's attorney who "knows how to read financial statements, having a state's attorney who knows how to read a contract."

Birkett, of Wheaton, has been an assistant state's attorney since 1981. He is chief of criminal prosecutions for the office.

"Many, many letters were written to Republican leaders in DuPage County on my behalf by people who care about justice in the courtrooms," Birkett said. "I think those voices were heard loud and clear.

"The other thing, I think, that has changed (in the past year)," he said, "is that I did go to the party leaders and I asked them for their support . . . giving them all an opportunity to sit down and interview me."

Birkett's main asset is his experience in the state's attorney's office and his record of involvement in law-enforcement issues.

But his identification with the office also could be a liability, particularly if ongoing investigations by a DuPage special prosecutor and the Department of Justice were to uncover embarrassing information about the way officials handled the murder trials of Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez.

Cruz was acquitted last month of charges in connection with the 1983 abduction and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico. Charges against Hernandez were dismissed Friday.

Is Birkett concerned that he likely will be perceived as a de facto incumbent, answerable for the past failures of the office as well as its successes?

"I think that some people may try to take that tack--my opponent, for example--but I am answerable for a lot of the good that has taken place in the office. The office is well-run. It's one of the best, I think, not only in the state but in the country."

Cronin announced his candidacy by ripping the state's attorney's office for its handling of the case against Cruz, a political gambit that many think may have backfired.

DuPage residents may be uneasy about the outcome of the investigation into the girl's murder, but there doesn't seem to be any anger at the state's attorney's office.